Psychologists' social representations of conformity: Conformity – birth or death of individuality

When discussing conformity, modern social psychological literature draws its conclusions mostly from the classical sources written by the mid twentieth century authors such as Muzafer and CarolynSherif, Leon Festinger, Solomon Asch, Morton Deutsch, and Harold B. Gerard. A detailed scrutiny of these...

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Main Author: Janez Bečaj
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Slovenian Psychologists' Association 2005-12-01
Series:Psihološka Obzorja
Subjects:
Online Access:http://psiholoska-obzorja.si/arhiv_clanki/2005_3/becaj.pdf
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author Janez Bečaj
author_facet Janez Bečaj
author_sort Janez Bečaj
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description When discussing conformity, modern social psychological literature draws its conclusions mostly from the classical sources written by the mid twentieth century authors such as Muzafer and CarolynSherif, Leon Festinger, Solomon Asch, Morton Deutsch, and Harold B. Gerard. A detailed scrutiny of these texts, however, reveals that many of today's widely accepted "findings" from that era are in fact not supported by the classical literature. Surprisingly, this analysis also shows that from the three metatheoretical orientations that coexisted at the time, namely the social-interactionistic, the interindividual, and the individualistic, only the latter survived to the present time, despite the fact that the authors pertaining to this orientation never really dealt with conformity, let alone defined it. Today, as a consequence, conformity is generally understood as a clash between the individual and society, although it is not at all clear which theoretical positions and empirical data could support such a view. It seems rather obvious that conformity will sooner or later have to be based on a new theoretical perspective and redefined.
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spelling doaj.art-9471ec90873c4dc792859750d2b66fd62022-12-21T21:33:40ZengSlovenian Psychologists' AssociationPsihološka Obzorja2350-51412005-12-011434168182Psychologists' social representations of conformity: Conformity – birth or death of individualityJanez BečajWhen discussing conformity, modern social psychological literature draws its conclusions mostly from the classical sources written by the mid twentieth century authors such as Muzafer and CarolynSherif, Leon Festinger, Solomon Asch, Morton Deutsch, and Harold B. Gerard. A detailed scrutiny of these texts, however, reveals that many of today's widely accepted "findings" from that era are in fact not supported by the classical literature. Surprisingly, this analysis also shows that from the three metatheoretical orientations that coexisted at the time, namely the social-interactionistic, the interindividual, and the individualistic, only the latter survived to the present time, despite the fact that the authors pertaining to this orientation never really dealt with conformity, let alone defined it. Today, as a consequence, conformity is generally understood as a clash between the individual and society, although it is not at all clear which theoretical positions and empirical data could support such a view. It seems rather obvious that conformity will sooner or later have to be based on a new theoretical perspective and redefined.http://psiholoska-obzorja.si/arhiv_clanki/2005_3/becaj.pdfconformitysocial influenceinformational influencenormative influenceindividuality
spellingShingle Janez Bečaj
Psychologists' social representations of conformity: Conformity – birth or death of individuality
Psihološka Obzorja
conformity
social influence
informational influence
normative influence
individuality
title Psychologists' social representations of conformity: Conformity – birth or death of individuality
title_full Psychologists' social representations of conformity: Conformity – birth or death of individuality
title_fullStr Psychologists' social representations of conformity: Conformity – birth or death of individuality
title_full_unstemmed Psychologists' social representations of conformity: Conformity – birth or death of individuality
title_short Psychologists' social representations of conformity: Conformity – birth or death of individuality
title_sort psychologists 39 social representations of conformity conformity 8211 birth or death of individuality
topic conformity
social influence
informational influence
normative influence
individuality
url http://psiholoska-obzorja.si/arhiv_clanki/2005_3/becaj.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT janezbecaj psychologists39socialrepresentationsofconformityconformity8211birthordeathofindividuality